MSP Winter Event #1 – 11/10/14

ELC Winter Event Recap – #1

11/10/14 Snowfall Totals. Click to zoom in.

SHIFT NORTH This ended up being a very interesting storm that went pretty much exactly on track but the snow cutoff was a little further north than expected. There was a dramatic split between the northwest and south/southeast metro. Anoka, Elk River and Monticello got 10-15″ while Chanhassen, Shakopee, and Eagan had less than 2″. That is a 10″ different over less than 40 miles. Pretty incredible.

FINAL PLOW With the extended timing of this snow along with blowing winds overnight, a final plow will probably be required tonight (Tuesday) night to clean up all of the snow in the North Metro.

ICE/RAIN The forecasts originally had the precipitation coming down as all snow. The major shift that took place in the snowfall totals was a lot of the precip came down as rain/sleet/freezing rain instead of fat, happy flakes. That liquid has caused quite an icing problem on roads and parking lots.

COLD The temperatures will be dropping dramatically through the week with temps 20-30º below normal.

SALT If your properties haven’t been salted, make sure to request that ASAP. With dropping temps, the snow/rain/ice will be tough to remove from lots if there isn’t a little salt to help it out.

HELP We will be out tomorrow -Wednesday 11/12/14 – checking properties for proper snow storage, salt use, and quality of work. Call 612.844.1824 or email btabke@ethicallandscape.com if you have properties you’d like us to check out.

FORECAST The forecast hasn’t got a lot of precipitation in it but will be Polar Vortex COLD for the next two weeks. Looking good for a Thanksgiving warmup (but those generally bring some snow along with them).

OFFICIAL The MSP Airport officially totaled the snowfall at 3.4″.

Event Chronology

6 am 11/11/14 – Light snow in south metro with very little accumulations

6 pm – Snow ending southwest to northeast

All day – Heavy snow north

10 am – Very light accumulations and freezing rain south of 394

3 am – Light snow, freezing rain and mist begins

Official event totals:

Minneapolis/St Paul Airport – 3.4″ (OFFICIAL)

St Cloud – 13.5″ (OFFICIAL)

Elk River – 11.3″

Anoka – 10″

Monticello – 9.4″

Coon Rapids – 6″

North St Paul – 3.1″

Inver Grove Heights – 2.5″

Edina- 2″

Chanhassen – 1.8″

Shakopee 1.1″

The NWS has a surprising few official totals at 9 am. We’ll update if more show up.

Monthly totals:

November – 2.6″ (as of 11/10/14)

Seasonal totals:

UPDATE: 1 pm 11/10/14

The metro is setting up as the boundary between very heavy snow and lesser accumulations. Scott and Dakota Counties have been removed from the Winter Storm Warning expecting 2-6″ of snow south of 494. North metro is still expected to get walloped with 8-14″ of snow through tomorrow morning.

We’ll have to wait and see how much further north the drier air pushes the system.

Brad

ORIGINAL POST 7:45 AM 11/10/14

Welp. Here it is! Winter has arrived. Here is the info property managers need to know.

SNOW Heavy today. Winter Storm Warning 6″ through noon Tuesday (11/11/14) in south metro and up to 16″ in north metro and beyond.

OVERNIGHT ICE Unexpectedly, the overnight snow (less than an inch) has been accompanied by mist and freezing rain making roads and parking lots icy and gnarly.

MONDAY This will be an extended snowfall, lasting over 24 hours. During the day today you can expect heavy snowfalls – unless you have dedicated plows to your property, your contractor will not be able to keep up.

TUESDAY Snow is expected to continue through noon Tuesday. You will probably receive a full plow Monday night to get the bulk of the snow out of the way. However, it won’t look like your lots were plowed. Full plows will be Tuesday night.

WIND To make this even more fun, wind will be blowing 15 mph with higher gusts. The heavy, wet snow shouldn’t blow around too much.

COLD Low temps end of this week in the teens followed by an extended period of below zero temps next week when our friend with really cold temps – who shall not be named – heads south.

PROPERTY AUDITS Use ELC to check your properties for proper piling, hauling needs and ensure sight lines are maintained. Call us at 612.844.1824 or email btabke@ethicallandscape.com.

PILING Make sure that your piles are all in the right place by the weekend. They won’t be moving after that and there is no thaw in the forecast for the next 14 days.

HAULING – Any hauling that needs to be done should be completed by the weekend. Especially for retail properties and the holiday season coming up.